A Conversation with the Mann - Hardcover

Ridley, John

4.09

54 ratings by Goodreads

9780446528368: A Conversation with the Mann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446528366 ISBN 13: 9780446528368

Publisher: Warner Books, 2002

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Dreaming of making it big in the world of entertainment, aspiring black comic Jackie Mann will do anything to achieve his goal, sacrificing friends, family, love, and his own self-respect as he journeys from Harlem to the heights of fame and fortune, in a novel set during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. 50,000 first printing.

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Review:

If the School of Hard Knocks has an arts program, Jackie Mann, the talented but unoriginal black comic at the center of John Ridley's fourth novel, A Conversation with the Mann, would have earned nothing but A's. A child of Harlem in the 1950s, whose loving mother died young and whose father was harsh and drug-addicted, Jackie's one ambition is to become famous--the only route, as he sees it, out of poverty and helplessness. He gets his break in after-hours performances at a run-down burlesque house in the Village, and, with the help of an equally run-down agent, eventually makes his way to the top of the marquee at the sparkling Copacabana Club. But no one, let alone a black man in 1950s America, rises that far without making enemies or dangerous friends. And Jackie eventually finds that what he has left behind may be more valuable than the fame he is so desperately seeking. As a former stand-up comedian, the author is able to add realistic details to this smooth and well-researched show-biz novel. --Regina Marler

About the Author:

John Ridley lives in Los Angeles and New York.

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